And so it came to pass that Laura wrote stories. Big ones. Short ones. Ones with fur behind their ears and dirt under their fingernails. All about Hanson. All inspired by strange passing glimmers, the sort that dart up to the surface, sing their song for a precious minute or two and then calmly sink back to the bottom into the darkness. The damnable thing about those glimmers is not that they sink; It's that there always seems to be more of them. And the new ones, naturally, are the ones that continue to catch Laura's eye and distract her from the warm, well-worn comfort of the old ones. You know, like Christmas. Ask Woody. He knows. So, given Laura's continuing, decrepit lust for all things that sparkle, the moral of this story is that the stories below may never have a moral. Or endings at all. Or beginnings. Or fully-realized plots. Maybe someday, Laura will learn to be faithful. Until then, she hopes that you, dear reader, will be a willing co-conspirator in her infidelity.

Growing Pains

Written: summer 1998 - spring 1999, and boy is that ever apparent.

About: The traumas and miracles of the Hanson Life, circa the Albertane Tour and just after.

Sundries: First person from Zac's point of view. Actually two novella-length stories, A Day in the Life and Growing Pains. There was a third part planned but, surprise surprise, it was never finished. Features celebrity cameos from Carson Daly, Fiona Apple and, God help us, Jarrod Gollihare. Read with caution. It reeks of teenieness.

Sliver: "... Tay looses it completely. He starts to laugh hysterically through his tears, choking and laughing and sobbing the entire time. I’m doing the same thing of course. Pretty soon, I don’t even know if I’m happy or sad or what. All I know is that this is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me pretty much...well...minus the chocolate milk incident in San Francisco. But whatever."

The Winner Is

Written: fall 1999

About: Diana Hanson ponders her sons' fame on the eve of the 1998 Grammy Awards.

Sundries: First person from Diana Hanson's point of view. Many a highly obvious mathamatical inaccuracy in this story. Ignore them and move on.

Sliver: "... And for goodness sakes, I hoped he made them brush the bumps out of their hair. The last time they were on The Tonight Show, I was tempted to pick up the phone and force the on-staff stylists to fix them up during the next commercial break. They sat there, chatting away, with the remnants of the morning's ponytails still apparent, one colossal bump at the nape of each neck. I could hear the voices of mothers all over the country, peeping over the shoulders of their teenage daughters, sizing up their future sons in laws. "Now where is their mother? Why does she let them go out there looking like that?" They had promised me that this show would be different."

Prolouge to a Life

Written: summer 2000

About: Quasi-grown-up Isaac on the eve of the birth of his first child.

Sundries: First person, present tense (!), from Isaac's point of view. The first good piece of fiction I ever wrote. Seriously. Poured out in a single miraculous burst of inspiration over two days.

Sliver: "... I wonder about the lights in here, about their careful placement so that they shine low and warm on the wallpaper from behind frosty globes. I wonder how many psychologists it took to figure out the whole scheme, to consider every trauma that could possibly put people out here waiting. Car accidents must have been a high priority. Then heart attacks. Then strokes and plain old accidents like falling down and shooting up. I'm sure my sort of trauma wasn't considered very high up on the list. You could always have more babies."

To Jason on his 15th Birthday

Written: fall 2000

About: Aw, we'll let you figure it out.

Sundries: First person. Letter format. Was originally planned as the first in a series, and indeed, more may come. (Ha ha ha...)

Sliver: "... The only time they ever told any of us the truth was when they talked to Taylor, even back then, when he was 16 or 17, and the most fragile-looking one among us by a long shot. I don't have to tell you how he is, how he looks you in the eye and demands that simple, baseline level of honesty. And because of that, no one ever lied to him and got away with it. That's why he can still do it, Jason. That's why the rest of us had to leave."


LA

Written: summer 1999

About: The lads from Tulsa deal with the glitter of West Coast life during the supposed recording of This Time Around

Sundries: First person from Isaac's point of view. Only two chapters written. As I was writing it, I distintcly remember suddenly realizing that I was basing the Ike/Taylor relationship on my relationship with my sister. I still like that idea. I don't think I ever had an ending in mind for this story. Or a middle.

Sliver: "... I craned my neck around to see what in the world could be so fascinating. Standing behind me, just inside the entrance of the bank, was Taylor, hands in pockets, calmly surveying the scene. God. I told him to stay in the car."

What Home Sounds Like

Written: fall/winter 2000

About: Hanson falls in with a young voice teacher from Berklee.

Sundries: First person from Rachael's (the teacher's) point of view. I have to say, I still really like the idea for this story. If I'm going to update it, I'm going to entirely rewrite it.

Sliver: "... The most wonderful and certainly the most intriguing element of Taylor Hanson was his hair. It was the single thing that made me silently and fiercely fight the urge to touch. He was topped by a fury of pale straight locks that were negligently parted down the middle of his head and just brushed his shoulders. Dressed in loose corduroys and a long sleeved t-shirt, he was the living amalgam of every single musician boy I'd ever fallen for, in the flesh and fifteen years too young."